It's obvious, that there's a huge difference between driving in time trial vs driving in championship mode, so I would consider unifying the rules for future runs. I personally would choose the time trial mode, since it includes less rng (no items and drivers) and requires more pure driving skill. Also I noticed that sometimes the time shown in the upper right corner during the race is different than the one that is shown at the screen with the splits afterwards, probably because of the last ms digit, that isn't shown ingame, but still calculated. Therefore, I would also like that to be specified, knowing which time counts as the "real" time. So far, I always chose the time shown at the screen after the race.

Unifying the rules for the single runs would be good. I'd also prefer the time trial option. (btw agreeing to your time tracking method as well)